Fox News Drops Suit Against Franken

Fox News dropped its trademark infringement lawsuit against Al Franken and his publisher, Penguin Group, that aimed to stop sales of the liberal satirist’s new book but instead turned it into a top seller.

Indeed, Penguin’s Dutton unit said that because of heavy demand for the book it has orders to print 510,000 copies of “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” as of Monday, up from the original 270,000.

“It’s time to return Al Franken back to the normal obscurity he’s accustomed to,” a Fox spokeswoman said.

The network’s withdrawal of the suit follows strong criticism by a federal judge who refused to grant Fox’s motion for an order stopping sales of the book that mocks the network and its host Bill O’Reilly.

Fox had charged in the suit that Franken had violated its trademarked phrase “Fair and Balanced” by including it on the cover of his book.

From Reuters